Three Things You Can Do to Turbo Charge Your Business in 2019
January is a traditionally slow month for photographers. Our clients are taking a break after the holidays and we’re exhausted from the busy fall season. It’s the time of year when we all sit back, rest and recover.
At the beginning of my career I dreaded the slowness of this month. It scared me. I’d have waves of the “I’ll never work again” panics and would spend the month a stressed out wreck.
Now I’ve come to appreciate the break. Instead of worrying, I use the slowness to get to work done on all the admin tasks that tend to get neglected as soon as things get busy. In this way, I set myself - and my business- up for the coming year!
Here are three things I do in January to get my business on track for the new year!
Plan Blog Posts
Blogging, when done right, is one of the best things you can do to market your business. It is a great way to educated clients, share recent work and boost SEO!
Use your time in January to sit down and plan out what you’re going to blog about for the year!
Now, I know this sounds like a lot of work, but it’s really not. You just need to come up with twelve topics to create a blog post a month.
How do you come up with those topics? Think like your clients!
What questions do they have about you, your style and your work?
What do they need to know in order to have a better experience working with you?
How can you help solve their problems and/or answers their questions?
Some examples of blog topics are: Three Things to Know When Booking Your Newborn Session, My Favorite Parks for Family Photos, What to Wear…. Things your potential clients may be searching for when sitting down to their computers.
Using your blog to answer questions, solve problems and educate your clients in this way turns your blog from being an extension of your portfolio into a powerful marketing tool!
Use your blog strategically and you will be amazed how it will help boost your business.
Update Your Portfolio
Portfolios not only showcase our best work, they communicate who we are to our clients and educate our people on what they can expect from us. A carefully crafted portfolio is therefore extremely important.
My two tips for creating an great online photography portfolio
Keep it small! A small, well curated portfolio of amazing images is waaaay better than a huge portfolio or mediocre ones! Ten to twenty great photos is enough.
Keep it current! Go back over your images from the last year and pick the best of the best!
And to help you choose your best images, have a look at which photos performed well on your Instagram feed! Your followers have already helped you identify work that read wells online. Think of your feed as market research and look for photos with the most engagement to add to your online portfolio!
Spruce Up Your Website
As photographers our websites are extremely important. They represent us, our brands and our businesses. They are often our client's first introduction to us. So make sure your website is making a good first impression!
A good website quickly and clearly communicates what you do. It is easy to understand and to navigate. And it has a clear call to action, meaning, it directs your clients to do whatever it is you want them to do (book, contact, sign up...that sort of thing.)
To create a good website, ask yourself these questions:
Does my site show the kind of work that I consistently give my clients?
Does it clearly communicate who I am as an artist?
Is it easy to navigate?
Do my clients know what to do when on my site? Do I have a clear call to action?
Do those things, and your website will not only attract the kinds of people you want to work with, it will convert them into paying clients!
So there you have it! Three things you can do in January that will get you on track to making 2019 your best year yet!
Happy New Year!
